Griffith Base Hospital Continues To Deliver Quality Care

The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) Healthcare Quarterly report shows public hospitals in Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) continued to improve emergency department performance and reduce planned surgery wait lists throughout the first quarter of 2023, despite sustained high demand.

MLHD Chief Executive Ms Jill Ludford thanked staff for their hard work throughout the period of high activity.

“Our emergency departments continued to provide care within timeframes well above the state average, and our ambulance transfer of care times are once again among the best in the state for this quarter,” Ms Ludford said.

“We continue to work closely with our at NSW Ambulance to ensure patients are transferred from the ambulance to the emergency department as swiftly as possible.

“I want to thank our highly skilled and dedicated workforce. These results are a testament to their hard work.”

Throughout the first quarter of 2023, there were 38,117 attendances to MLHD emergency departments.

More than eight in 10 patients (85 per cent) started treatment on time, which is better than the state average (67.4 per cent).

Almost nine in 10 patients (86.5 per cent) were transferred from paramedics to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark time – also better than the state average (77.7 per cent).

The majority of patients (75.9 per cent) were able to leave the ED within four hours, also better than the state average (58.2 per cent).

Of the more than 35,000 emergency department presentations across the District, 19,556 (54.7 per cent) were in the semi-urgent (triage 4) and non-urgent (triage 5) categories.

MLHD continues to remind the community to support us by saving emergency departments and ambulances for saving lives. If an illness or injury is not serious or life-threatening, we encourage people to call Healthdirect Australia on 1800 022 222, for a 24-hour telephone health advice.

MLHD completed 2,101 planned surgeries in the January to March 2023 quarter, up from 1,936 in the preceding October – December 2022 quarter.

All urgent planned surgeries (100 per cent) were performed on time.

MLHD continues its surgical recovery plan, with 41 fewer patients on the waiting list compared with the preceding October – December 2022 quarter, and 123 fewer than at the end of the July – September 2022 quarter.

“As part of the surgical recovery plan we may offer patients the opportunity to receive their surgery sooner at one of our District hospitals,” said Ms Ludford.

“I thank the community for their patience during this challenging time and assure everyone our District is continuing to work hard to carry out those procedures that were postponed during the COVID waves as soon as possible.”

Patients due to receive non-urgent planned surgery who have been impacted by the restrictions are encouraged to seek medical attention should they experience a change in their condition so they can be clinically reviewed and re-prioritised to a more urgent category if required.

The 2022-23 budget for Murrumbidgee Local Health District is $727.9 million, an increase of $29 million or 4.16 per cent on the previous year’s budget.

Griffith Base Hospital

The emergency department had 5,354 attendances from January to mid-March 2023 quarter.

More than eight in 10 patients (83.6 per cent) started treatment on time, which is better than the average for hospitals of a similar size in NSW (71 per cent).

Almost all patients (96 per cent) were transferred from ambulance to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark time, which is also better than the average for hospitals of a similar size in NSW (87.1 per cent).

Further, three-quarters of patients (75 per cent) were able to leave the ED within four hours, also better than the average for hospitals of a similar size in NSW (64 per cent).

During the January to March 2023 quarter at Griffith Base Hospital 285 planned surgeries were performed, with all urgent surgeries (100 per cent) performed on time.

Throughout the quarter, 124 babies were born at Griffith Base Hospital.

More than nine in 10 patients (90.6 per cent) were able to leave the ED within four hours – also better than the average for hospitals of a similar size in NSW (79.3 per cent).

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